‘Absolute worst call’: Williams calls out officiating; ref admits mistake
One minute and 10 seconds. That’s how long it took Monty Williams to express how he felt about Monday’s controversial road loss to the New York Knicks.
The veteran Pistons coach has carefully selected his words when asked about officiating throughout the season, but Williams openly criticized the officiating on Monday. He specifically pointed to a non-call which resulted in a collision between Donte DiVincenzo and rookie forward Ausar Thompson near midcourt with eight seconds left in the game.
The Pistons led by one when Thompson stole the ball and tried to dribble down the edges of the sideline when DiVincenzo tried to leap for the ball. The action caused Thompson to collapse and Jalen Brunson came away with the ball, which led to an and-1 layup by Josh Hart. The sequence was the beginning of the end for the Pistons, who suffered their sixth consecutive loss.
Williams called the play an “abomination” during his brief postgame press conference.
“Where’s the New York media now?” he began. “The absolute worst call of the season. No call. Enough is enough. We’ve done it the right way. We’ve called the league. We’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again. We had a chance to win the game and a guy dove into Ausar’s legs, and there was a no-call. That’s an abomination. You cannot miss that in an NBA game. Period.”
DiVincenzo was asked about Williams’ comments and shifted the attention toward the ebb and flow of officiating throughout the course of the game.
“You respect everybody’s opinion,” DiVincenzo said. “You can go back through the whole game and nitpick calls. Do I think we dodged a bullet overall? Yes. Do I have great respect for Monty and everybody over there? Yes, so that is someone else’s opinion and that is fine. Like I said we dodged a bullet with the win and whatever their opinions are, that is fine.”
Shortly after the game, the NBA released a pool report interview with official James Williams, who was directly in front of the play when it occurred. The interview was conducted by NBA writer Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. When asked why a foul was not called when DiVincenzo made contact with Thompson, Williams admitted that a foul should’ve been called.
“Upon postgame review, we determined that Thompson gets to the ball first, and then was deprived of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball,” James Williams said. “Therefore, a loose-ball foul should have been whistled on New York’s Donte DiVincenzo.”
Monday night isn’t the first time Williams has expressed frustration following one of several devastating losses for the Pistons. Williams had another passionate postgame presser after Detroit’s loss to the Washington Wizards on Nov. 27. The loss marked the 14th of their NBA record 28-game losing streak. He used one-word answers to describe his team’s lack of effort and discipline.
The Pistons received more free-throw attempts than the Knicks on Monday night. They finished 21-of-26 from the stripe, while New York connected on 16-of-21 of its attempts from the free-throw line. However, there have been several instances when Detroit was on the negative end of a free-throw disparity, including Saturday’s loss to the Orlando Magic when the team had 13 trips to Orlando’s 21 attempts.
Cade Cunningham, who scored a team-high 32 points, expressed displeasure of the officiating after Saturday’s loss, but held his tongue when asked about the controversial play following Monday’s game.
“It didn’t go our way,” Cunningham said. “It’s nothing to say, man. There’s no words for it. It is what it is. It’s how it’s been. We got Chicago tomorrow.”
When asked about the sequence, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau declined to comment directly on the play between Thompson and DiVincenzo.
“I don’t want to comment on stuff like that because I haven’t watched the film,” Thibodeau said. “I thought in general, it was very physical. I thought on Jalen (Brunson’s) drives, there was a lot of contact, but I was OK with that because I thought there was contact the other way as well.
“As long as it’s not tight one way and loose the other way. You can call it tight, you can call it loose, I’m looking for consistency. I thought they were. I thought it was a good hardfought game. I thought they played well, and I thought we battled.”
Williams vehemently disagreed that the game was equally officiated on both sides.
“I’m tired of talking about it,” Williams said. “I’m tired of our guys asking me, ‘What more can we do, coach?’ That situation is exhibit A to what we’ve been dealing with all season long, and enough is enough. You cannot dive into a guy’s legs in a bigtime game like that and there be a no-call. It’s ridiculous and we’re tired of it. We just want a fair game called. Period. And I’ve got nothing else to say. We want a fair game and that was not fair. I’m done.”